Re: ARTICLE: misdiagnosis/mislabeling (CA)

[Guest guest]

AMEN TRISH!!! COULDNT HAVE SAID IT BETTER MYSELF.

> " Dr. Bryna Siegel, director of the autism clinic at UCSF, believes that

> some children with speech and language disorders who aren't actually

> autistic are being misdiagnosed.

>

> " I actually think the availability of treatment dollars is driving the

> diagnosis, " Siegel said. "

[Guest guest]

We hear this again and again on this list, children are diagnosed with

autism around age 2 or 3 and then when the speech starts falling into place,

suddenly the child doesn't fit the autism diagnosis. My kid is one of them.

He has PDD-nos on some of his medical paperwork from when he was young.

Even now, his psychologist puts PDD on the paperwork so that she can

continue to see him with no flack from the insurance company.

This is exactly why we need more awareness about speech-language disorders!

No one takes them seriously!

Tricia Morin

North Carolina

Karyn wrote:

" Dr. Bryna Siegel, director of the autism clinic at UCSF, believes that

some children with speech and language disorders who aren't actually

autistic are being misdiagnosed.

" I actually think the availability of treatment dollars is driving the

diagnosis, " Siegel said. "

MY SENTIMENTS EXACTLY........if the kids are dx'd as autistic, there's

more money to educate them. PLUS the huge lack of knowledge on what

speech/language/motor planning disorders are, and how they present. If you

get a dx of autistic spectrum disorder, and you do not agree.....get another

opinion.

~karyn

[Guest guest]

When I saw that article I was so glad that the misdiagnosing word is

getting out a bit at a time - another article, another person

realizing. I want to write the writer, email her a brief story of

what happened to us, we got the autism label and went elsewhere to

fight it, in the meantime what a view they had, the services they

were offering were the wrong ones, we ended up going to a

professional who also knew the misdiagnosing was happening and is a

child's advocate thank goodness. My daughter doesn't have apraxia

but she has expressive-receptive language delay and that is being

misdiagnosed. We have to be the voice for our children. In time it

is being heard!

[Guest guest]

can someone please post the article

[Guest guest]

http://www.sanmateocountytimes.com/Stories/0,1413,87~11268~2342442,00

..html

Experts: Spike in autism could be anomaly

By Fancher, STAFF WRITER

As the number of children with autism in California continues to multiply,

so

too are the questions about what has caused the rise.

Meantime, some health and education experts question the validity of the

statistics that point to the increase in caseload.

One in every 250 children in the state is autistic and from 1998 to 2002,

the

population of autistic children served by the state doubled.

" It's significantly higher than we ever thought it would be 10 years ago, "

said

Ron Huff, senior psychologist for the California Department of Developmental

Services. He said that Massachusetts and Atlanta have seen rises as well as

countries such as Japan, Great Britain and Canada.

A neurological disorder, autism comprises a spectrum of developmental

problems

that range from mild to severe, often marked by little or no speech,

emotional

volatility and poor social skills.

Warych, a special education manager for the California Department of

Education, said it's possible the rise is due to kids being misdiagnosed as

autistic because they're speech impaired or emotionally disturbed.

Dr. Bryna Siegel, director of the autism clinic at UCSF, believes that some

children with speech and language disorders who aren't actually autistic are

being misdiagnosed.

" I actually think the availability of treatment dollars is driving the

diagnosis, " Siegel said.

Allan Lloyd-, special education consultant for the California

Department of

Education, believes that lumping Asbergers and Pervasive Developmental

Disorders

into autism figures has affected statistics. Ten years ago there were 4,394

autistic students in the state, now there are 24,943, but 10 years ago

students

with Aspergers and PDD weren't counted as autistic, he said.

Hendren, executive director of the MIND Institute at UC , which

was

created by the California legislature to study the causes of autism, said

that

the rise may be due autistic children formerly being diagnosed as mentally

disabled in the past.

" We're diagnosing people differently now than we did 10, 20, 30 years ago, "

he

said.

Another theory is that the rise is due to more autistic children moving to

the

state, but Hendren said there's no proof of this.

Hendren said most researchers at MIND are studying a possible genetic link

to

the disorder but that an environmental factor may cause defective genes.

There

may also be a link to autoimmune function since one-third of families with

an

autistic child have a history of autoimmune problems.

One possible theory is that vaccines with a preservative containing mercury

or

pollutants in the environment are causes.

" Mercury is very toxic to the immune system and we have more in our

environment

now, " said Hendren, who has also been studying a synthetic compound in

styrofoam, pesticides and other chemicals, he said.

Francine Goodwin of Mountain View's son , 7, goes to Wings in San Mateo

believes his autism may have been caused by the mercury in the vaccines

given to

her son. She's eager for researchers to find the cause, but no one can

predict

where that will be.

" There's still a lot of research that has to be done, " said Huff.

Mills-Faraudo contributed to this article.